JP5782745B2 - Image forming apparatus, image forming system, image forming method, and image forming program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention is an image forming apparatus, an image forming system, an image forming method, and an image forming program which are connected to another image forming apparatus and have a cooperation function for executing one process in cooperation with the other image forming apparatus. About.

  2. Description of the Related Art An image forming system including a plurality of image forming apparatuses has a device cooperation function that links a plurality of image forming apparatuses and performs a series of image processing in a distributed manner. In the image forming system having the device cooperation function, the function of the image forming apparatus that is a candidate of the cooperation destination, the type of image processing, and the like can be displayed on the operation target image forming apparatus.

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses displaying functions that can be provided depending on whether or not an apparatus is usable in device cooperation between an image forming apparatus and a PC (personal computer).

  In the above conventional image forming system, based on the presence or absence of functions provided in the image forming apparatus and the determination of whether or not the image forming apparatus can be used, the image forming apparatus is a candidate for the image forming apparatus to be linked, and maintenance of image quality is considered. It has not been. For this reason, there is a possibility that the image quality is lowered by executing the image processing in a distributed manner.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has been made to solve the problem. An image forming apparatus, an image forming system, and an image forming apparatus that can maintain image quality even when image processing is performed in a distributed manner. It is an object to provide a method and an image forming program.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention employs the following configuration.

The image forming apparatus of the present invention is connected to two or more other image forming apparatuses, and cooperates with at least one or more image forming apparatuses of the two or more other image forming apparatuses to execute one process. an image forming apparatus having a function to send an evaluation image data to said two or more other image forming apparatus, made to the evaluation image data in each of the two or more other image forming apparatus Image comparison means for receiving processed image data generated by image processing and comparing each of the processed image data with the image data for evaluation, and based on the comparison result by the image comparison means, a device cooperation management means for determining the another image forming apparatus that has transmitted the processed image data to the image forming apparatus as a cooperation destination, was closed, the ratio between said evaluation image data each of the processed image data The number of dots on the plane constituting the image data, or the coordinates of the writing position of the stamp in the image data.

  According to the present invention, image quality can be maintained even when image processing is performed in a distributed manner.

1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a system configuration of an image forming system according to a first embodiment. It is a figure explaining the case where the image forming system of 1st embodiment cooperates and performs one process. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of an image forming apparatus that constitutes an image forming system according to a first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation until an evaluation image is transmitted in the image forming system according to the first embodiment. 6 is a flowchart for explaining determination of an image forming apparatus as a cooperation destination in the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining determination of an image forming apparatus as a cooperation destination. An example of a screen for setting a color is shown. It is a figure explaining the comparison of image data when color conversion of image data is set. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen which performs operation which adds a stamp to image data. It is a figure explaining the comparison of the image data to which the stamp was added. It is a flowchart explaining the process of the evaluation image creation part of 1st embodiment. It is a flowchart explaining selection of the image data for evaluation by the evaluation image determination part. 10 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the image forming system of the second embodiment. 10 is a flowchart for explaining determination of an image forming apparatus as a cooperation destination in the second embodiment.

In the present invention, an image processed by an image forming apparatus that is a cooperation destination candidate is acquired and compared with an evaluation image created by an image forming apparatus to be operated, and the image forming apparatus that maintains the image quality is Choose as.
(First embodiment)
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a system configuration of the image forming system according to the first embodiment.

  The image forming system 100 of the present embodiment is configured by connecting a plurality of image forming apparatuses via a network. In the example of FIG. 1, the image forming apparatuses 200, 300, and 400 are included.

  The image forming apparatus constituting the image forming system 100 according to the present embodiment includes a cooperation function in which a plurality of image forming apparatuses cooperate to execute one process. Hereinafter, processing executed in the image forming system 100 of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a case where the image forming system according to the first embodiment executes one process in cooperation.

  FIG. 2 shows a case where the image forming apparatus 200 is an operation target device operated by the user and the image forming system 100 performs a copy process.

  In the example of FIG. 2, when an image reading operation is performed in the image forming apparatus 200 and image data is read, the image forming apparatus 200 sends the read image data and setting information related to copy printing to the image forming apparatus 300. Send. The image forming apparatus 300 performs image processing on the image data according to the setting information, and transmits the processed image data after the image processing to the image forming apparatus 400 together with the setting information. The image forming apparatus 400 outputs processed image data according to the setting information.

  In the image forming system 100 of the present embodiment, a series of processes can be executed in cooperation with a plurality of image forming apparatuses in this way.

  Hereinafter, an image forming apparatus 200 will be described as an example of an image forming apparatus constituting the image forming system 100 of the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of an image forming apparatus constituting the image forming system according to the first embodiment.

  The image forming apparatus 200 includes a scanning device 21, a plotter device 22, a driver 23, an HDD (Hard disk drive) 24, a memory device 25, an arithmetic processing device (Central Processing Unit) 26, and an interface that are mutually connected by a bus B. It comprises a device 27 and an operation panel 28.

  The scanning device 21 includes a scanner, a scanner engine, an engine control unit, and the like, and is used for scanning a document to obtain document data. The plotter device 22 includes a plotter, a plotter engine, an engine control unit, and the like, and is used for printing document data. The operation panel 28 is realized by a touch panel or the like having a display function, and displays an operation screen for operating the image forming apparatus 200. Further, the operation panel 28 displays a guidance screen for the progress of processing by the image forming apparatus 200.

  The interface device 27 includes a modem, a LAN (Local Area Network) card, and the like, and is used to connect to a network.

  The image processing control program of the present invention is at least a part of various programs that control the image forming apparatus 200. The image processing control program is provided, for example, by distributing the recording medium 29 or downloading from the network. The recording medium 29 on which the image processing control program is recorded is a recording medium for recording information optically, electrically, or magnetically, such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory), a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk, and the like. Various types of recording media such as (Read Only Memory), a semiconductor memory that electrically records information such as a flash memory, and the like can be used.

  When the recording medium 29 on which the image processing control program is recorded is set in the driver 23, the image processing control program is installed from the recording medium 29 to the HDD 24 via the driver 23. The image processing control program downloaded from the network is installed in the HDD 24 via the interface device 27.

  The HDD 24 stores the installed image processing control program and also stores necessary files, data, and the like. The memory device 25 reads and stores the image processing control program from the HDD 24 when the computer is activated. The arithmetic processing unit 26 implements various processes as will be described later in accordance with an image processing control program stored in the memory device 25.

  Next, the functional configuration of the image forming apparatus 200 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment.

  The image forming apparatus 200 according to the present exemplary embodiment includes a document reading unit 201, a setting input unit 202, an image processing unit 203, a printing unit 204, a communication unit 205, a device cooperation management unit 206, an image comparison unit 207, an accumulated document storage unit 208, An evaluation image creation unit 209, an evaluation image storage unit 210, an evaluation image determination unit 211, an image comparison storage unit 212, and a device monitoring unit 213 are included.

  The document reading unit 201 reads a paper document with a CCD or the like and creates image data. The setting input unit 202 receives device settings from the user via the operation panel 28. The image processing unit 203 processes the image data received from the document reading unit 201 and the image data received from another image forming apparatus by the device cooperation management unit 206. The printing unit 204 prints the image data received from the image processing unit 203 and the image data received from the device cooperation management unit 206. The communication unit 206 is connected to a network and performs communication with other image forming apparatuses.

  The device cooperation management unit 206 exchanges information with other image forming apparatuses on the network via the communication unit 205. Further, the device cooperation management unit 206 manages which part of a series of processes instructed by the user which image forming apparatus executes in cooperation with each control unit of the own device. In addition, the device cooperation management unit 206 executes processing requests to other image forming apparatuses and reception of processing results.

  The image comparison unit 207 compares the processed image created by the image processing unit 203 with the processed image received by the other image forming apparatus via the communication unit 205. Details of the comparison will be described later. The accumulated document storage unit 208 stores electronic documents accumulated in the image forming apparatus 200.

  The evaluation image creation unit 209 acquires image data read by the document reading unit 201 and image data stored in the accumulated document storage unit 208, and performs processing by the image processing unit 203 to create evaluation image data.

  The evaluation image creation unit 209 according to the present embodiment stores, in the accumulated document storage unit 208, what page of image data is used when there are a plurality of documents based on an instruction from the device cooperation management unit 206. Which page is to be used is determined, and image data for evaluation is created.

  Also, the evaluation image creating unit 209 of the present embodiment creates evaluation image data by cutting out a part of a document according to an instruction from the device cooperation management unit 206 even when the document size is large. In this embodiment, when the evaluation image data is stored in advance in the evaluation image storage unit 210, the evaluation image creation unit 209 may acquire the evaluation image data from the evaluation image storage unit 210. .

  The evaluation image storage unit 210 stores evaluation image data created by the evaluation image creation unit 209 and evaluation image data in which the image quality significantly appears in each reading mode.

  The evaluation image determination unit 211 determines image data for evaluation to be used for evaluation from the evaluation image storage unit 210 according to the reading mode of the setting input unit 202.

  The image comparison storage unit 212 stores the evaluation result of the image comparison lady 207 in association with the evaluation image for each image forming apparatus.

  The device monitoring unit 213 monitors the connection state of the image forming apparatus on the network via the communication unit 205 to detect a connection / release of the image forming device and a change in availability of the function, and sends it to the device cooperation management unit 206. Notice.

  Next, the operation of the image forming system 100 of this embodiment will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation until an evaluation image is transmitted in the image forming system according to the first embodiment. In the following description, it is assumed that the image forming apparatus 200 is an operation target by the user, and the evaluation image is transmitted from the image forming apparatus 200.

  In the image forming apparatus 200, when image processing settings are input from the setting input unit 202, the device cooperation management unit 206 acquires the types of functions necessary for performing image processing (step S501). Subsequently, the device cooperation management unit 206 acquires the number of image forming apparatuses connected to the image forming system 100 from the monitoring result by the device monitoring unit 213 (step S502).

  Subsequently, the device cooperation management unit 206 acquires device information of the image forming apparatus connected to the image forming system 100 (step S503). The device information is, for example, information indicating whether or not the image forming apparatus can be used, information indicating the type of function of the image forming apparatus, and the like. Subsequently, the device cooperation management unit 206 determines whether device information has been acquired for all the image forming apparatuses connected to the image forming system 100 (step S504).

  When the device information of all the image forming apparatuses is acquired in step S504, the device cooperation management unit 206 determines an image forming apparatus that is a cooperation destination candidate (step S505). Based on the device information, the device cooperation management unit 206 according to the present embodiment sets the image forming apparatus on which the function acquired in step S501 is mounted as a cooperation destination candidate. If the device information of all the image forming apparatuses has not been acquired in step S504, step S503 is repeated. Subsequent to step S505, the device cooperation management unit 206 determines an image forming apparatus that is a candidate for the cooperation destination as a transmission destination candidate for the evaluation image data (step S506).

  Subsequently, the device cooperation management unit 206 acquires information indicating the image processing mode set by the setting input unit 202 in the image forming apparatus 200 (step S507). Subsequently, the device cooperation management unit 206 inquires of the image forming apparatus that is the transmission destination candidate of the evaluation image data whether the evaluation result for the mode acquired in step S507 is stored (step S508).

  If the corresponding evaluation result is stored in step S508, the device cooperation management unit 206 performs correction to delete the image forming apparatus in which the evaluation result is stored from the evaluation image data transmission destination candidates (step S508). S509). If no corresponding evaluation result is stored in step S508, the device cooperation management unit 206 determines whether or not the processing in step S508 has been completed for all transmission destination candidates for the image data for evaluation (step S508). S510).

  If it is determined in step S510 that the processing in step S508 has not been completed for all corresponding image forming apparatuses, the process returns to step S508. When the process of step S508 is completed for all the corresponding image forming apparatuses in step S510, the cooperation device management unit 206 checks whether or not there is a transmission destination candidate for the image data for evaluation (step S511). ).

  If there is a transmission destination candidate in step S511, the cooperation device management unit 206 transmits the evaluation image data to the transmission destination candidate image forming apparatus (step S512). Subsequently, the device cooperation management unit 206 determines an image forming apparatus (image data transmission destination) to be a cooperation destination based on the comparison result between the processed image data from the transmission destination candidate and the evaluation image data (step S513). .

  Hereinafter, the process of step S513 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating determination of an image forming apparatus that is a cooperation destination in the first embodiment.

  In the image forming apparatus 200, the device cooperation management unit 206 receives the processed image data from the image forming apparatus that is the candidate for the destination of the evaluation image data (step S601). Next, the device cooperation management unit 206 determines whether or not the processed image data has been received from all the transmission destination candidate image forming apparatuses (step S602).

  When the processed image data is received from all corresponding image forming apparatuses in step S602, the image comparison unit 207 compares the evaluation image data with the processed image data (step S603), and the comparison result is stored in the image comparison storage unit 212. Remember me. In step S603, all received processed image data is compared with evaluation image data.

  Subsequently, the cooperation device management unit 206 determines an image forming apparatus (cooperation apparatus) as a cooperation destination based on the comparison result (step S604).

  The process shown in FIG. 6 will be specifically described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining determination of an image forming apparatus as a cooperation destination.

  FIG. 7 illustrates a case where the image forming apparatus 300 and the image forming apparatus 400 are selected as transmission destination candidates in the image forming system 100. The image forming apparatus 200 transmits the evaluation image data 71 to the image forming apparatus 300 and the image forming apparatus 400. Details of creation and determination of evaluation image data in the image forming apparatus 200 will be described later.

  Upon receiving the evaluation image data 71, the image forming apparatus 300 performs image processing on the evaluation image data 71, creates processed image data 72, and transmits the processed image data 72 to the image forming apparatus 200. Similarly, when receiving the evaluation image data 71, the image forming apparatus 400 performs image processing on the evaluation image data 71, creates processed image data 73, and transmits the processed image data 73 to the image forming apparatus 200.

  Also in the image forming apparatus 200, processed image data 74 obtained by performing image processing on the evaluation image data 71 by the image processing unit 203 is created. The image forming apparatus 200 compares the processed image data 72 and the processed image data 74 with the image comparison unit 207 and stores the result in the image comparison storage unit 212. Further, the image forming apparatus 200 compares the processed image data 74 with the processed image data 73 by the image comparison unit 207 and stores the result in the image comparison storage unit 212.

  Based on the comparison result of the image data, the device cooperation management unit 206 selects, as the cooperation device, the image forming apparatus that has transmitted the processed image data having the closest image quality to the own device.

  Next, a comparison between the evaluation image data and the processed image data in the present embodiment will be described.

In the present embodiment, for example, the present invention can also be applied when image data is color. Hereinafter, a comparison of image data when the image data is color will be described with reference to FIGS. In the present embodiment, a plurality of settings can be made for the color of the image data.
FIG. 8 shows an example of a screen for setting a color. A screen 80 shown in FIG. 8 is displayed on the operation panel 28 of the image forming apparatus 200, for example. For example, in the present embodiment, as shown on the screen 80, color conversion in image data can also be performed. In the following description, this function is called a color conversion function. For example, an area that is magenta in the image data can be converted to a light green color. In this embodiment, density adjustment can be set in addition to the color conversion setting.

  Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 9, a comparison of image data when color conversion of the image data is set will be described. FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining comparison of image data when color conversion of the image data is set.

  The color conversion function is installed in, for example, an image forming apparatus having a color printing function. However, depending on the performance and price of the image forming apparatus, a difference in the hardware configuration of image processing occurs. For example, an image forming apparatus equipped with a large number of functions and an image forming apparatus that is inexpensive and has a small number of functions have different image processing bases, so that there is a possibility that a difference in the finish will appear.

  In the example of FIG. 9, comparison of image data will be described using color conversion that may cause a difference in finish depending on the hardware configuration of image processing during device cooperation.

  The image data is composed of a plurality of planes, and color is expressed by the presence or absence of dots on each plane. FIG. 9 shows the RGB planes.

  When the device cooperation management unit 206 of the present embodiment receives the processed image data subjected to the color conversion processing from the destination image forming apparatus having the color conversion function, the image comparison unit 207 causes the processed image data and the evaluation image to be processed. Compare the data.

  Specifically, the image comparison unit 206 acquires some sampling data from the processed image data, and calculates the number of dots per unit area in each plane. The image comparison unit 206 similarly calculates the number of dots per unit area in each plane for the evaluation image data. Then, the calculated number of dots is compared.

  In the example of FIG. 9, each of the processed image data 91 and the processed image data 92 is compared with the evaluation image data 93. The image comparison unit 207 determines that the processed image data having the smaller difference is close in color to the evaluation image data 93 after the color conversion function is executed. Then, the device cooperation management unit 206 selects the image forming apparatus that has transmitted the processed image data with the smaller difference as the cooperation device.

  Next, comparison of image data when adding a stamp to read image data in the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen for performing an operation of adding a stamp to image data.

  A screen 81 shown in FIG. 10 is displayed on the operation panel 28 of the image forming apparatus 200, for example. In another embodiment, as shown on the screen 81, the stamp print type, print position, size (1 ×, 2 ×, 4 ×), watermark (solid, fine, coarse), and the like can be set. It is also possible to set the stamp printing page and stamp printing color.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining comparison of image data to which a stamp is added. As stamp data for printing a stamp, common data is installed in each image forming apparatus constituting the image forming system 100, and there is no difference between the image forming apparatuses.

  However, for example, when the stamp printing position in the image data has been adjusted on the assumption that the stamp is added to the image data read by the scanner device of its own, the image read by another image forming device When adding a stamp to the data, there is a possibility that a position shift occurs.

  In FIG. 11, comparison of image data will be described using a stamp that may vary depending on the performance of the scanner device during device cooperation as an example.

  In this embodiment, since the stamp data is common, it is possible to detect the position of the stamp by pattern matching or the like from the processed image data transmitted from the image forming apparatus as the transmission destination candidate.

  The image comparison unit 207 calculates the absolute coordinates of the stamp based on the detected stamp writing position and the writing position of the entire image, and quantifies it by converting the number of dots. In the image forming apparatus 200, evaluation image data in which a stamp is added to the image data read by the scanner device 21 is created and stored in the evaluation image storage unit 210. Similarly, the image comparison unit 207 calculates the absolute coordinates of the stamp for the image data for evaluation, and quantifies it by converting the number of dots. Then, the image comparison unit 207 compares the digitized coordinates of the processed image data with the coordinates converted into the evaluation image data, and determines whether the error is within a predetermined range. If it is within the predetermined range, the device cooperation management unit 206 selects the image forming apparatus that has transmitted the processed image data whose error is within the predetermined range as the cooperation device.

  In the example of FIG. 11, processed image data 94 and processed image data 95 that have been processed to add a stamp to the image data read by the image forming apparatus 200 with the scanner device 21, and the evaluation image storage unit 210 of the image forming apparatus 200. Is compared with the evaluation image data 96 stored in. In the evaluation image data 96, a stamp is added to the image data read by the scanner device 21.

  The image comparison unit 210 compares the stamp position in the processed image data 94 and the stamp position in the processed image data 95 with the stamp position in the evaluation image data 96, respectively. The device cooperation management unit 206 selects the image forming apparatus that has transmitted the processed image data closer to the position of the stamp in the evaluation image data 96 as the cooperation device.

  In the present embodiment, the comparison result by the image comparison unit 210 may be stored in the image comparison storage unit 212. If the comparison result is stored in the image comparison storage unit 212, the device cooperation management unit 206 can select the cooperation device without performing the same comparison processing a plurality of times. That is, when the device cooperation management unit 206 receives an instruction to execute processing by device cooperation, the device cooperation management unit 206 refers to the image comparison storage unit 212 and determines whether or not similar image data comparison results exist. When there is a comparison result corresponding to the image comparison storage unit 212, the cooperation device can be selected based on the comparison result.

  Next, the evaluation image data in this embodiment will be described. In this embodiment, the evaluation image data is created by the evaluation image creation unit 209 and stored in the evaluation image storage unit 210.

  The evaluation image creating unit 209 may use, for example, image data obtained by performing image processing by the image processing unit 203 on the image data read by the scanner device 21 as evaluation image data. In addition, for example, when the size of the read original is larger than a predetermined size, the evaluation image creating unit 209 of the present embodiment uses a part of the image data read from the original as the evaluation image data.

  Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 12, the creation of the image data for evaluation when the size of the document is a predetermined size or more will be described. FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining processing of the evaluation image creation unit of the first embodiment. In the processing shown in FIG. 12, for example, the image forming apparatus 200 that is the operation target can read and print up to an A3 size document, and all other image forming apparatuses constituting the image forming system 100 can perform A3 size printing. This is useful when it is not compatible.

  In response to an instruction from the device cooperation management unit 206, the evaluation image creation unit 209 according to the present embodiment reads a document with the document reading unit 201 and acquires image data (step S1201). The evaluation image creation unit 209 may acquire the image data stored in the stored document storage unit 208 according to an instruction from the device cooperation management unit 206.

  Subsequently, the evaluation image creation unit 209 acquires the size of the document from the image data (step S1202). Subsequently, the evaluation image creating unit 209 determines whether or not the size of the document is larger than the threshold value (step S1203). The threshold value is a value indicating the largest size among the document sizes that can be supported by all of the image forming apparatuses constituting the image forming system 100, for example. For example, when the image forming apparatus 200 can handle an A3 size document and the image forming apparatuses 300 and 400 can handle an A4 size document, the threshold value is a value indicating the A4 size.

  The evaluation image creation unit 209 according to the present embodiment acquires the vertical and horizontal size and area values of the image from the image data acquired in step S1201, and compares the size of the image set as the threshold value with these three points. Do.

  If the acquired document size is larger than the threshold value in step S1203, the evaluation image creating unit 209 cuts out a part of the image data acquired in step S1201 (step S1204).

  Subsequently, the evaluation image creating unit 209 performs image processing on the cut-out image data according to the setting input by the setting input unit 202 by the image processing unit 203 to create evaluation image data (step S1205). The created evaluation image data is stored in the evaluation image storage unit 210.

  The evaluation image storage unit 210 of the present embodiment stores evaluation image data created by the evaluation image creation unit 209 as described above. The evaluation image storage unit 210 of the present embodiment may store evaluation image data for each image processing mode, for example.

  In the present embodiment, for example, when printing in the photographic mode is performed by device cooperation, evaluation image data in the photographic mode is created. The evaluation image storage unit 210 may hold the evaluation image data in the photo mode. Similarly, the evaluation image storage unit 210 may store evaluation image data for each mode in the color mode and the monochrome mode.

  In this embodiment, when the image comparison unit 207 compares the evaluation image data with the processed image data, the evaluation image determination unit 211 uses the evaluation image data stored in the evaluation image storage unit 210 for comparison. Evaluation image data to be selected may be selected.

  Hereinafter, selection of image data for evaluation by the evaluation image determination unit 211 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating selection of evaluation image data by the evaluation image determination unit.

  When the evaluation image determination unit 211 of the present embodiment receives a selection request for image data for evaluation stored in the evaluation image storage unit 210 from the evaluation image creation unit 209, the evaluation image determination unit 211 acquires the setting input information input by the setting input unit 202. (Step S1301). The setting input information of the present embodiment is information including a document reading mode by the scanner device 21, for example.

  The evaluation image determination unit 211 determines a reading mode from the acquired setting input information, and selects evaluation image data corresponding to the reading mode (steps S1302 to S1310).

  In FIG. 13, as an example, the determination is made when the reading mode is the character mode, the photo mode, the color mode, or the monochrome mode.

  The evaluation image determination unit 211 determines whether the reading mode is color and the character mode (step S1302). If it is color and character mode in step S1302, the evaluation image determination unit 211 selects evaluation image data that is color and created by setting the character mode from the evaluation image storage unit 210 (step S1303). .

  If the color is not in the character mode in step S1302, the evaluation image determination unit 211 determines whether the color is in the photo mode (step S1304). If it is color and photo mode in step S1304, the evaluation image determination unit 211 selects the evaluation image data that is color and created by setting the photo mode from the evaluation image storage unit 210 (step S1305). .

  Even in the case of color and not in the photo mode in step S1304, the evaluation image determination unit 211 determines whether it is in black and white and in the character mode (step S1306). In step S1306, in the case of monochrome and character mode, the evaluation image determination unit 211 selects the evaluation image data created with the setting of monochrome and character mode from the evaluation image storage unit 210 (step S1307). ).

  If it is black and white and not in the character mode in step S1306, the evaluation image determination unit 211 determines whether it is black and white and is in the photo mode (step S1308). In the case of monochrome and photo mode in step S1308, the evaluation image determination unit 211 selects the evaluation image data that is black and white and created by setting the photo mode from the evaluation image storage unit 210 (step S1309).

  In step S1308, when the image is monochrome and not in the photo mode, the evaluation image determination unit 211 selects general-purpose evaluation image data from the evaluation image storage unit 210 (step S1310). The general-purpose evaluation image data may be image data stored in the evaluation image storage unit 210 after the image processing unit 203 performs image processing on the image data read from the document reading unit 201, for example.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, when the device cooperation function is executed, evaluation image data that is a result of performing the image processing instructed to be executed in the operation target image forming apparatus is created. In addition, the image forming apparatus to be operated transmits the image data before image processing to another image forming apparatus constituting the image forming system, and the processed image is subjected to the image processing instructed to execute the image data. Let the data be created. The image forming apparatus to be operated receives the processed image data, compares it with the evaluation image data, and selects the image forming apparatus having the closest image quality as that of the own apparatus as the cooperation destination.

  Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the image quality can be maintained even when image processing is performed in a distributed manner.

(Second embodiment)
The second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The second embodiment of the present invention is different from the first embodiment only in that a case where a new image forming apparatus is added to the image forming system is shown. Therefore, in the following description of the second embodiment of the present invention, only differences from the first embodiment will be described, and those having the same functional configuration as the first embodiment will be described in the first embodiment. The same reference numerals as those used in the description are given, and the description thereof is omitted.

  FIG. 14 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the image forming system of the second embodiment. FIG. 14 shows a case where an image forming apparatus is newly connected to the image forming apparatus 100.

  In the image forming apparatus 200, the device cooperation management unit 206 acquires information on the image forming device connected to the image forming system 100 by the device monitoring unit 213 (step S1401). In step S1401, it is determined whether an image forming apparatus connected to the image forming system 100 has been added (step S1402). In step S1402, if no new image forming apparatus is added, the process ends.

  If a new image forming apparatus has been added in step S1402, the device linkage management unit 206 adds the newly added image forming apparatus to the candidate for linked apparatus (step S1403). Subsequently, the device cooperation management unit 206 adds the newly added image forming apparatus to the candidates for the transmission destination of the evaluation image data (step S1404).

  Since the processing from step S1405 to step S1411 is the same as the processing from step S507 to step S513, description thereof will be omitted.

  FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating determination of an image forming apparatus that is a cooperation destination in the second embodiment.

  The processes up to step S1501 and step S1502 are the same as steps S601 and S602 in FIG.

  The device cooperation management unit 206 uses the image comparison unit 207 to compare the processed image data received from the current cooperative device with the processed image data received from the image forming device newly added as a candidate for the cooperative device (step) S1503). Subsequently, based on the result of the image comparison unit 207, the device cooperation management unit 206 determines an image forming apparatus that has transmitted processed image data having image quality close to that of the image forming apparatus 200 as a cooperation apparatus (step S1504). Note that the image quality in the present embodiment may indicate, for example, resolution or hue.

  As mentioned above, although this invention has been demonstrated based on each embodiment, this invention is not limited to the requirements shown in the said embodiment. With respect to these points, the gist of the present invention can be changed without departing from the scope of the present invention, and can be appropriately determined according to the application form.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Image forming system 200, 300, 400 Image forming apparatus 201 Document reading part 206 Equipment cooperation management part 207 Image comparison part 209 Evaluation image creation part

JP 2006-115222 A

Claims (8)

An image forming apparatus connected to two or more other image forming apparatuses and having a cooperation function for executing one process in cooperation with at least one image forming apparatus of the two or more other image forming apparatuses. And
Processed image data generated by transmitting image data for evaluation to the two or more other image forming apparatuses and performing image processing performed on the image data for evaluation in each of the two or more other image forming apparatuses. Image comparison means for comparing each of the processed image data and the evaluation image data,
Based on the comparison result by the image comparison means, device cooperation management means for determining the other image forming apparatus that has transmitted the processed image data with the smaller difference as the image forming apparatus to be linked;
I have a,
It said comparison between said evaluation image data each processed image data, the number of dots on the plane constituting the image data, or the coordinates of the writing position of the stamp in the image data, images forming device. Furthermore,
A document reading means for reading the document into image data;
Image processing means for processing the image data;
Evaluation image creating means for creating image data for evaluation from the processed image data;
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, comprising: The evaluation image creating means includes
3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein when the size of the original is equal to or larger than a predetermined size, a part of the image data read from the original is cut out to create the evaluation image data. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2 or 3 having an evaluation image storage means for storing the evaluation image data created by the Review Ataiga image forming means. Setting input means for setting the reading mode of the document;
Evaluation image determination means for determining evaluation image data to be used from the evaluation image data stored in the evaluation image storage means,
The evaluation image determination means includes
The image forming apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the evaluation image data to be used is determined based on the reading mode set by the setting input unit. Two or more other image forming apparatuses and an image forming apparatus having a cooperation function for executing one process in cooperation with at least one of the two or more other image forming apparatuses are connected. An image forming system comprising:
The image forming apparatus includes:
Processed image data generated by transmitting image data for evaluation to the two or more other image forming apparatuses and performing image processing performed on the image data for evaluation in each of the two or more other image forming apparatuses. Image comparison means for comparing each of the processed image data and the evaluation image data,
Based on said comparison result by the image comparison means, possess a device cooperation management means for determining the another image forming apparatus that has transmitted the processed image data having the smaller difference in the cooperation destination to become the image forming apparatus, a,
The comparison between each of the processed image data and the evaluation image data is an image forming system in which the number of dots on a plane constituting the image data or the coordinates of the stamp writing position in the image data. An image by an image forming apparatus that is connected to two or more other image forming apparatuses and has a cooperation function for executing one process in cooperation with at least one image forming apparatus of the two or more other image forming apparatuses. A forming method comprising:
Processed image data generated by transmitting image data for evaluation to the two or more other image forming apparatuses and performing image processing performed on the image data for evaluation in each of the two or more other image forming apparatuses. An image comparison procedure for comparing each of the processed image data and the image data for evaluation,
Wherein based on the comparison result of the image comparison procedure, possess a device cooperation management procedure for determining the another image forming apparatus that has transmitted the processed image data having the smaller difference in the cooperation destination to become the image forming apparatus, a,
The comparison between each of the processed image data and the evaluation image data is an image forming method in which the number of dots on a plane constituting the image data or coordinates of a stamp writing position in the image data . Executed in an image forming apparatus connected to two or more other image forming apparatuses and having a cooperation function for executing one process in cooperation with at least one image forming apparatus of the two or more other image forming apparatuses. An image forming program,
In the image forming apparatus,
Processed image data generated by transmitting image data for evaluation to the two or more other image forming apparatuses and performing image processing performed on the image data for evaluation in each of the two or more other image forming apparatuses. An image comparison step of comparing each of the processed image data and the evaluation image data;
Based on the comparison result in the image comparison step, the apparatus cooperation management step of determining the other image forming apparatus that has transmitted the processed image data with the smaller difference as the image forming apparatus to be linked is executed,
The processing respectively compared with the evaluation image data of the image data, the number of dots on the plane constituting the image data, or coordinates der Ru image forming program of writing positions of the stamps in the image data.

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